


Found

by candyfloss_and_soy_milk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Budding Love, Crack, Fix-It, Fluff, Getting Together, Kinda, M/M, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Rating for swearing and sexual language, how i think season five should have moved into the bulk of season six
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-24 02:50:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15620877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candyfloss_and_soy_milk/pseuds/candyfloss_and_soy_milk
Summary: Keith and Lance decide to keep their relationship private for the time being.Only for Keith to find something that could put his life on hold for the time being.





	Found

**Author's Note:**

> I prepared a little playlist for this owo
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDrTN5sPfKga6aVnGYUbIILtWDChgtn_B
> 
> it's a mixture of songs that i feel reflect klance as a whole, and how the fic plays out as well (not in any particular order)

Keith woke up a little achy, but he wasn’t particularly surprised, considering the beds in the Blades’ base weren’t the best for supporting a (half)human’s bone structure. He sat up and stretched out his back, memories of the night before flooding back. Warm butterflies soon swarmed in his stomach as he remembered his chat with Lance.

After the (multiple) kiss(es), they had concluded they were too tired to do anything, so Lance had walked him to his room and Keith had fallen asleep almost immediately with a sense of contentment he hadn’t felt in years. All he had wanted to do was check to see if Lance would forgive him for his stupid self-sacrificing bullshit, but instead found out that the other boy more than trusted him and liked him for who he was. Sure, there was still the doubt that settled in his gut that once he hears about the stunt he pulled, that trust would go away. He knew well enough how homesick Lance was and if he lost someone he cared about permanently, the damage that would do to him… 

And there was Shiro to account for. Oh no. His best friend and brother would never let him live, not after all Keith’s teasing over Shiro’s boyfriend back in the Garrison. Keith had been a relentless little brat, he could admit that, but that meant Shiro wanted revenge. And he said as much over the years. 

It was unbearable to think about.

Instead, Keith indulged himself in thinking about what these new developments between him and Lance could possibly mean. Were they dating now? Oh god, Keith has never dated anyone before. Has Lance? But then again he only accepted he was into guys last night, and presumably dating guys is different from dating girls. Was it? Well obviously the whole sex thing would be different but - OH GOD KEITH DON’T THINK ABOUT, THAT ITS BEEN LESS THAN A DAY, CALM DOWN.

 

Okay so maybe Keith was overthinking it all. But then again, a relationship is a pretty big deal, so maybe he should be overthinking it?

Oh god why is this so stressful, he thought to himself, I need to talk this over with Lance.

 

•••

 

Lance barely slept the night before, maybe raking in 3 hours tops, but he didn’t feel shitty. Oh no. He couldn’t sleep because Keith kissed him back. 

He honestly couldn’t believe it. Lance had spent all of his life pining for different people (apparently of various genders) and that pining had always gone nowhere. It reached a point where he had just accepted that he wouldn’t find someone who felt the same way. Hell, his crush on Allura, which had lasted the duration of a space war, wasn’t going to go anywhere. A tiny part of him had stayed optimistic, especially considering he had felt very seriously for her up until recently, but ultimately, he didn’t expect anything to happen there. The simple thought that any crush of Lance’s would actually reciprocate was unheard of.

But Keith, not only was he apparently into guys much to Lance’s joy, liked Lance specifically. 

Well. He hadn’t said so, but he kissed him back. So that had to mean something.

Lance had spent his waking hours thinking the whole situation over, but as the hours reached what would be considered sociable hours of the morning, he thought about walking into breakfast holding Keith’s hand and proudly relishing in the fact his feelings were reciprocated.

But then he thought, Pidge and Hunk will see. 

He wanted them to see though, right? He wanted his oldest friend and the tiny gremlin he saw as a little sister to see how happy he was, right?

Then he thought about how the self-proclaimed “Team Punk” had been acting recently. Yeah, they were still friends with Lance, but the two of them spending so much time tinkering and working on all the nerdy, mechanical junk, some of Pidge’s gremlin tendencies had… rubbed off on Hunk. The two of them had gotten very good at taking the piss out of him, especially over his now dead crush on Allura, but he wouldn’t put it past them to tease him for being happy, as they did when he was miserable. Hunk hadn’t been too bad on his own, but him and Pidge would tear him to shreds surely.

And that’s when the terror started.

He really liked Keith, and he didn’t want whatever they now had to be soured by their friends being pains in the butts. He wanted to keep the quiet nighttime smooches to himself and be able to spend time with Keith without having to worry about the pain of Pidge and Hunk embarrassing the two of them.

And THAT’S when Lance came up with a plan.

He threw the covers off of him, and slipped his feet into the lion slippers that sat beside his bed, while checking the time. It should be around 8am, and if Keith wasn’t awake already, he doubted he’d be killed if he woke him up.

Lance slammed his hand on the door’s control panel and flew out the door and charged down the hall. He had to scope out the dorm wing before going to Keith’s room, so he ran up and down the hall three times, just to be sure he wouldn’t be spotted. He hoped the engineers would either be asleep or in their workshop and that Shiro would still be on his mission with Lotor. Luckily, Allura would almost never come to this wing of the castle, and Coran, Lance could always improvise an excuse to his favourite alien uncle.

After being certain the coast was clear, Lance tentatively approached Keith’s bedroom door. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, but it didn’t do much to settle the chaotic cloud of butterflies tormenting his insides. God, how did it come to this? He may like Keith and Keith may like him back, but they were still teammates, he shouldn’t be anxious to see him, right? No big deal. 

…

 

Who was he kidding it was a huge deal.

Regardless, he managed to knock on the door before he felt himself retching from nerves.

The door slid open shortly after his knock and the sight of a sleepy Keith replaced the nausea in his stomach with a dizziness in his head. 

“Morning,” Keith’s voice was husky, and Lance’s head started to spin, “you okay Lance?”

A bashful grin spread across his face without meaning to and he chuckled. He sighed a breathy, “hi.”

Keith raised an eyebrow, confused but amused at Lance’s behaviour. “Do you wanna come in?” He stepped aside and gestured for him to enter and Lance found himself nodding, sweeping into the room. The door shut, snapping Lance out of his stupor. He was suddenly struck with ‘oh shit I’m alone with Keith again’. His eyes raked up and down Keith’s current appearance, because apparently, he had managed to find the paladin issue pyjamas that Lance had nagged him to dig up the night before. The pjs were rumpled and gave him the cutest possible look and Lance had to swallow thickly to regain sane thoughts. He came to discuss something with him.

“I have a proposal for you,” and as soon as Lance said it, he regretted it. His face heated exponentially.

“Lance.” Keith’s face was blank, but there was a hint of teasing in his voice. “I’m far too young to be getting married. Same goes for you.” The other boy playfully pushed Lance’s shoulder, “besides, we kissed for the first time only last night. Bit eager, much?” 

Lance buried his face in his hands, “Keeeeeeeith,” he whined, as the other chuckled. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

Keith was still chuckling when he said, “well what did you want to propose to me then?”

The Red pilot lowered his hands and eyed the former Black pilot, checking to see if it was indeed safe to ask now. He deemed it so and cleared his throat. “Well, I was wondering if you wanted to be, um, public about… us.”

They shared a moment of silence. 

Lance was bubbling inside with anxiety, studying Keith’s face to pry an answer out, but so many emotions flashed across his face in that moment that Lance had trouble pin-pointing any one emotion. 

Keith cleared his throat. “What do you mean, public?”

“I mean, like, walking around the castle, holding hands and stuff. Being open about us-“

“Do you want that?” Keith eyeballed him.

Lance cocked an eyebrow, “I asked you that.”

“Well now I’m asking you.”

They blinked at each other. “Would you be mad if I said no?”

A sigh of relief; Keith threw his arms around Lance, who had to pause to realise what just happened. “God no, I was going to ask you the same thing.”

“You were?”

“Well, yeah,” he pulled back, didn’t meet Lance’s eyes out of shyness. “I’ve never done this before and I don’t want to fuck up, y’know?”

Lance half-laughed, “and you think I have?”

“Not with a guy, I guess, but-”

“Keith, buddy-”

“Again with the buddy-” he muttered, pouting.

“I’ve not dated anyone before. Girls, boys, anyone in between and outside of.” Lance smiled softly at Keith, “You’d be my first.”

“Oh.” And Keith smiled. Lance liked all of Keith’s expressions, but god, that smile. He always thought those songs and poems about someone’s smile being like the sun were cheesy and gross. Still did, but if that meant that Lance was cheesy for basking in the warmth that emanated from Keith’s smile, effectively soaking in life giving beams shining outwards from Keith, Lance didn’t care. He was smitten with the boy in front of him and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling back. What he didn’t expect, though, was what Keith said next. “God, your smile. I love it.”

It hit like a sucker punch to the gut. “You do?”

“Of course.” He flushed as red as his pyjamas and put his head on Lance’s shoulder, “see this is why I want to keep us private. Shiro would never let me live something like what I just said down.”

Lance laughed, prompting Keith to lift his head up in shock, “You think Shiro is the problem? It’s our nerdy engineer friends who are the problem. They would have a field day if they found out we’re dating.”

A beat of silence. Lance could hear the ragged breathing from the two of them.

“You said it.”

“What?”

“You said we’re dating.”

Lance swallowed, “yeah?”

Keith stepped back and slapped his upper arm. “boY YOU CALLED ME BUDDY LIKE THIRTY SECONDS AGO AND THEN YOU SAY WE’RE DATING?!” 

“Okay, first of all: OW. Second of all: I meant it affectionately, dammit.”

“What is affectionate about ‘buddy’? A word used by dude-bros to refer to other dude-bros.”

Lance blinked, “did you just call me a dude-bro?”

“You are one, if you’re calling the guy you MADE OUT WITH LAST NIGHT your BUDDY!”

He blinked again, if only to try and stifle the coming laugh.

“You remember that text post, or tweet whatever it was, about the two guys who were ordering a subway or some shit and the first guy refers to the second as ‘bro’ and the second says ‘you cannot call me bro if you sucked my dick 10 minutes ago.’ Well I’m pretty sure you’d be the first guy given the situation.” At that, Lance let the laugh out, because not only was that absolutely spot on - Lance so would, if only to tease - but Keith unknowingly insinuated that there would be blowjobs in the future, and oop, there’s Keith’s realisation of what he just said. “Wait, no, that, that came out wrong.” Lance laughed harder, “SO DID THAT. OH MY GOD.” He grunted and walked over to his bed, before flopping down face first. Lance heard a muffled scream.

Letting his laughter die down, he approached Keith currently trying to scream himself out of existence. He nudged the other boy with his foot and heard a loud grunt in response. Lance chuckled and perched on the edge of the bed, rubbing soothing circles on Keith’s back. Sure enough, the whining stopped.

“There, there. If you wanted me to suck your dick you could have just asked.” The groan came back. Lance smirked, and then thought of something. “besides, we kissed for the first time only last night. Bit eager, much?” He said, imitating Keith’s tone from earlier. The boy lying face down, sat up and scowled at Lance, who winked. The wink apparently was a bad idea, because Keith tackled him and started attack-tickling him. How did Keith know Lance was ticklish, you may ask? Well, when the other boy had been the red paladin and Lance the blue, Keith may have stumbled upon Hunk tickling Lance out of revenge for a particularly cheeky joke made about something Hunk had cooked. Lance figured it was only a matter of time before Keith could use this deadly information against Lance. Although, he figured it would be in a more platonic manner, not necessarily after the two of them had developed feelings for each other and Lance himself had been spellbound by the kisses from the night before for the past 10 hours.

But hey, if that meant that Lance could have Keith laughing while mounted on him (in the least sexy way possible), Lance didn’t mind one bit.

 

•••

 

Keith eventually backed down, feeling like Lance had perhaps suffered enough as a penance for teasing him. They ended up cuddling on Keith’s bed for a little while, talking mindlessly about whatever sprung to mind. Lance had one arm under his head while the other circled around Keith, who was shamelessly snuggled into Lance’s side. To say that Keith had dreamt about something like this for years, was an understatement. 

Almost as if the boy could read his damn mind, Lance posed a question, “so. How long have you liked me?”

Keith coughed, startled, “What?”

“Well I’m assuming you like me, you kissed me back and agreed that we should keep us a secret from the others, but you never said so. Should I not have assumed?” His voice was trying to be nonchalant, but it wasn’t working. 

“What? No, that’s-“ he started again. “Lance, I like you too, you dummy.”

“Phew okay, that’s a relief.” There was a beat of silence, and Keith could swear he heard the smirk creep onto Lance’s pretty face. “So, how long have you liked me?”

“How long have you liked me?” Keith asked in return. 

Lance sighed, “that’s a bad habit of yours, asking me my own questions.” He waited. “Fine. I’ve liked you...” he seemed to be doing the calculations in his head, “probably since I saw you again in that Garrison hospital. You should wear bandanas more often, you looked really hot.”

Keith’s eyes widened and he pulled back slightly to eyeball him. “That long? But you only realised you liked guys yesterday?”

“Yeah and who do you think caused that, genius?” Lance rolled his eyes playfully. “Well technically my first real life gay crush might have actually been Shiro but more as a celebrity crush, y’know? Like Oscar Isaac or Carrie Fisher, god rest her soul.”

“Wait what? You crushed on Shiro?!” Keith sniggered, “and you’re a Star Wars nerd?” 

“I am not ashamed to admit I am a Star Wars nerd but the Shiro thing...maybe a little. But I guess I like his little brother more.” He winked at the end of his sentence, which made Keith shove him away with a blush on his cheeks. Lance just laughed and pulled Keith back into the cuddle. “But yeah, probably since then. I admired you a lot in the Garrison when we were in the same class, and I guess in the time between you punching Iverson in the face and us rescuing Shiro together, the admiration changed into gay feelings. And I guess I was also pissed about you not remembering me, hence the bullshit rivalry.”

Keith chuckled, “I didn’t mind the rivalry really, it just meant that I could see you all flustered and shit.” He paused. “And well, I did remember you.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, because I’ve liked you since we were kids in the cadet program.”

“You what?!” This time it was Lance’s turn to pull away in exasperation. “Seriously? You, edge lord mullet preteen Keith, liked me, with my too short bangs and chubby baby cheeks?”

Keith shrugged, “duh. How could I not? With those irresistible looks, I was screwed from the moment we enrolled.”

Lance’s shocked face melted into a smirk. Because of course it did. He chuckled again, and Keith loved every second he heard Lance laugh. “Awh babe you had a crush on me.”

“We’re dating.”

“Still.”

Keith shoved Lance away again, only to be promptly pulled back again. 

Lance held Keith close. “How did you last that long without saying or doing anything? It almost killed me when I realised and I was gonna go spill to Hunk almost as soon as I figured it out for myself.”

“But you didn’t, because you spilled to me instead.”

Lance hummed a laugh. “Yeah, and I’m glad I did. I don’t think I could have handled five years of pining.”

Keith scoffed, “as if was it five years. It was 4 years, 10 months and 26 days.”

“Close enough,” Lance said, pulling Keith even closer, if that was physically possible. 

They lay like that until Lance’s phone buzzed with an alarm for 10am. With his usual sleep schedule royally fucked, he had apparently forgotten to turn it off. But it helped as a useful reminder that they should probably get up and dressed soon. 

Which Lance attempted, “c’mon. Let’s get some food.”

But Keith, unwilling to let a thing like social norms get in the way of cuddling his long term crush while he was adorable rumpled in his pjs, clamped down on his new boyfriend and wouldn’t let him stand. “No.”

“Keeeeeith.”

“No. I waited nearly five years to do this, and I will not stop until I am satisfied.”

Lance rolled his eyes but planted a quick kiss on the top of Keith’s head. “Aw babe. It’s okay, you’ll have plenty of cuddle time in the future.”

“Five more minutes?” Keith looked up into Lance’s eyes putting on the puppy dog eyes he used for evil when he was a young child. He supposed this usage was also for evil too. 

Lance’s lip hardened. Keith batted his eyelashes. Lance’s lip trembled. Then he sighed, flopping back down onto the mattress. 

“Okay fine. Five more minutes of cuddle time. Then we move.”

Keith hummed happily, but the five minutes passed a little too quickly for his liking so he had to act fast to get Lance to stay. He tried to sit up but Keith pinned him back down to the mattress and held his wrists down. 

“Keith. Five minutes of cuddle time are up. Get. Off.”

“You didn’t say anything about kissing time though.” And Lance didn’t have a second to think, but was more than willing for kissing time instead. Keith was not as gentle as the night before, this time more desperate to get Lance to stay, and it seemed to be working, up until Keith tried to slip his tongue into the kiss. Too far for 10 in the morning maybe?

“Nuh uh, no. I am hungry and in desperate need of a shower.” His face was serious. Determined even. “And what happened to keeping it private?”

“What? This is private.”

“Yeah now, but when we walk out that door and to breakfast - probably lunch at this rate - and both of us have bright red lips from making out, the others are gonna get suspicious.”

He had to admit, it did make sense. Especially with Shiro apparently due to be coming back to the castle this morning, he couldn’t risk exposing the secret relationship with Lance before it even started. Although, the devil on Keith’s shoulder was persistent. Telling him to keep going, and say fuck it, he’s just going to be delaying the inevitable anyway. Why not get it over with? 

“But I wanna keep kissing you.” Keith pouted again, activating the puppy dog eyes, but Lance was not having it. 

“And I do too, but if we want to keep our sanity and privacy, we need to take this a step at a time.”

Keith sighed, rolling off Lance and letting him stand up. “Okay fine.” But as Lance made his way to the door, Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist and attention. “But I refuse to cancel. I will only accept postpones.”

Lance raised an eyebrow, “really now?” He pulled his wrist free, but still smirked. 

He pulled Lance over by the collar of his pyjama shirt and said in his most devilish voice possible, “tonight after dinner. Your room.”

The cheeky smirk had gone, and Keith spotted a sheen of nervous sweat on Lance’s forehead. He said in a small voice, “okay.” Before scurrying out of the room, red-faced and breathing heavily. Keith smirked in his wake, because he wasn’t lying when he said he liked seeing Lance flustered. 

 

•••

 

Lance’s hair was still damp as he walked into the kitchen. He was a little surprised to see nobody but Hunk in the room, given it was coming up to midday already. At least Keith should be here, Lance knows for a fact the boy doesn’t take as long getting ready. But the solemn look on his best friend’s face worried him more. 

The other boy hadn’t looked up when Lance had entered, so he felt the need to say “knock knock.”

Hunk looked up and his expression shifted to a concerned smile. “Where have you been? You skipped dinner last night?” Lance was surprised to hear his tone wasn’t dripping with that patented Pidge teasing like it normally was nowadays. 

“I was just...” he hadn’t planned an excuse for where he was, so he figured he could tell a half truth. “I was thinking.”

“About?”

“What you said...about me yesterday.” Hunk cocked his head to the side in confusion, “you know, the thing.” Hunk shrugged. “Fine okay. You said I was a chaotic bi or whatever. I guess, you’re not wrong.”

The two shared a stare for a moment, before Hunk stopped stirring the stew-looking substance in the pot and rushed over to wrap Lance in a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so proud of you bro, I know how hard that must have been to admit. But you’re not alone okay? I’m here for you.” He pulled back and put a reassuring hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I was teasing you about it and you hadn’t even figured it out or accepted it.”

Lance really hadn’t expected... this as a response. “Dude it’s okay. It took me some time but I’m alright now.” He studied the lines under his friend’s eyes, “but bro are you okay?”

Hunk sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “A lot happened. The coalition spent all night discussing what to do about the super weapon. And Shiro and Lotor came back about a couple hours ago, and Lotor took a little too much interest in the man eating weapon.”

Fuck. Apparently, whilst Lance was having fluffy cuddling time with his new boyfriend, the prospects of the war are only getting worse. If Lotor gets his hands on the weapon... god knows what will happen.

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, man. That’s the general consensus around here.” He shrugged and walked back to the stove. “Also, Keith said something about needing to tell everybody something after lunch.”

“Ohhh shit.” Lance approached, leaning on the counter. “What do you think it’s about?”

“I dunno man, but he looked serious. So I can’t imagine it’ll be fun.”

Lance thought back to the expression on his face the night before when asking if he would still forgive Keith when he eventually told everyone something he did that was stupid. Concern and worry creased the corners of his eyes and squeezed his mouth into a tight line. The more Lance thought about it, the more worried he became. Just what did Keith do?

 

•••

 

Keith had rushed to find his brother as soon as he was dressed post-shower. Running through the castle’s halls, he could feel his hair dripping splashing the pristine walls and floors; he would have to apologise to Coran later, or he supposed anyone who could slip and fall. He’d known Shiro would be back this morning but after not having seen him in a while, he was desperate to see him - even if when they parted ways, he was acting like a control freak. Lance had mentioned that they were noticing some strange behaviour with Shiro, yelling at Lance, but then calling out to him in the astral plane, all of this running off with Lotor on so-called diplomatic missions. He needed to talk to him, because if something was seriously wrong with his brother, he would know.

He was rounding the corner leading toward the castle’s bridge, when he heard voices. It sounded like Lotor speaking to someone. Keith froze, unsure if he’d been spotted. He hadn’t, but just to be sure, he slipped back around the corner and listened out with a keen ear. 

“Look, I don’t care,” Lotor had been standing alone, so Keith guessed he had some kind of space cell phone. “Do whatever it takes to get a hold of it. I’m still working on my end of the plan, I will let you know further down the line.”

Okay that’s suspicious, Keith thought. Who was he talking to? And what about? Just what was going on inside the castle since he left?

“Have you been tracking the shipments? Well, you obviously haven’t if Ranveig got a hold of one of them.” He snarled, “you’re lucky we can use your mistake to our advantage.”

At the mention of shipments, Keith froze. They had failed the mission essentially, given they left the super weapon behind and failed to track the path of the shipment of this more powerful quintessence. His stomach churned. They needed to finish the mission, otherwise Lotor could get his hands on an untold amount of power; he may be on the side of Voltron and the Coalition now, but Keith couldn’t stop himself from not trusting the son of Zarkon. After all, he couldn’t forgive anybody who laid so much of a finger on his teammates. 

That was it. He needed to get back on that mission. Right now, keeping the weapon out of Lotor’s hands was the most important thing, and finding out just where the new form of quintessence came from. Even if it meant leaving the team again to protect them.

The team.

Shit.

He’d have to leave the team again. And Lance.

And he meant to tell them about the stunt he pulled at during the Naxzella mission. 

His team and boyfriend were going to kill him.

But at least that’s better than god knows what Lotor is planning.

 

•••

 

Lance sat beside Hunk in the living room, across from Pidge. The two engineers were talking about some kind of tinkering they had to do later, while Lance fiddled on his phone. He’d grown accustomed to zoning out when the two talked science, but he was less bitter about it now. Keith was back now, and it meant that if he were feeling particularly lonely, he could go beg his boyfriend for a cuddle. 

As it was, the three of them were waiting for Keith to come tell them as a group what it was he did that he was so sure they would be mad at him for. Allura, Coran and Shiro had yet to make an appearance, probably working with Lotor for some last minute diplomacy shit before heading over. As it stood, Lotor had no place there when Keith eventually showed up, they hadn’t had a chance to “bond” the way the rest of the team had. As well as that, Matt had left that morning to attend to business with the Rebels. So it was just going to be the original Team Voltron for the first time in a long time. Even though Lance knew that it wasn’t going to be a happy get together, it was at least comforting for it to be the seven of them once again.

Allura and Coran walked in, still muttering about diplomatic matters, when Allura paused. “Is Keith not here yet? Or Shiro?”

Lance looked up and simply shrugged. “Guess they’re on their way.”

“I hope Keith is okay, he looked particularly unsettled when he came to tell us he wanted this little team meeting.” Allura sat down beside Pidge and clasped her hands together in worry.

“Too right, Princess,” Coran looked just as concerned. “I don’t think Number Four has been this upset since he found out he was Galra.”

“I think he could just be coming down from the stress of the past couple days.” Hunk said. 

Pidge didn’t look up, but her brow was furrowed. “Damn straight.” 

She almost looked…annoyed. Did she already know what Keith had wanted to say? 

Shiro walked in then, tablet in hand, seemingly already preoccupied. “Hey guys.” He looked up briefly, “Keith not here yet?”

“Nope.” Lance pocketed his phone. He had been on the brunt of Shiro’s outbursts lately, and was worried about their leader. “You…doing okay buddy?”

“Headache, but other than that,” Shiro gave Lance an unconvincing smile, “I’m fine, thanks Lance.”

It was almost like Shiro was being extra nice, just to placate Lance and was trying his hardest to not upset him. He didn’t want to bring it up, because the oldest paladin had his own harem of problems, but he’d obviously noticed that Lance was being effected by this change in behaviour. Lance was somehow more annoyed at this, because he’d just hiding how he’s actually feeling, rather than addressing it. He’d managed to when they were suffocating outside Oriande, but since then? Nothing.

He started to argue, but then Keith entered, with Krolia in tow. Lance’s heart picked up the pace, and he tried to quell it. As much as he liked his boyfriend and his heart swelled with affection for him, he knew it meant the dreaded talk was coming.

Keith shared a reassuring look with his mother, before turning to the group. His eyes locked with Lance’s and he offered up a comforting smile and hoped it would help Keith feel a bit more at ease. The two shared a shy smile before the former red paladin cleared his throat. “Hey guys.” He looked around quickly, not looking at anyone else but Lance for an extended period of time. “I wanted to tell you something- something kind of shitty I did.”

Shiro stepped forward and put a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Whatever it is, I’m sure its not as bad as you’re making it out to be. And we’re a team. We can work through whatever together.”

The younger of the two brushed off Shiro’s hand, dropping his eyes to the floor. “But there’s something else now.”

Immediately, Lance started to panic silently. Had Keith changed his mind and wanted to tell everyone about their relationship? It hadn’t even been a day and Keith wanted it out in the open. Lance studied Keith’s downward facing expression, and concluded that wasn’t it. He looked almost guilty. Just how many things had this boy done that he wasn’t proud of?

“Krolia and I never finished our mission, trailing the new strain of quintessence.” Keith’s voice was quiet but clear. “And after the super weapon was let loose, we need to figure out where Ranveig got the stuff from in the first place.” He swallowed. “If it’s capable of making monsters like that, we need to find it and keep it out of the hands of-“ a pause, “-of people who could use it the way Ranveig planned to. We can’t risk it. Keeping it out of the hands of warring Galra factions is the main priority for the Blade of Marmora.”

The room fell into a silence thick with tension. Hunk looked anxious; Pidge looked mad; Allura looked taken aback; Coran looked upset; Shiro had closed his eyes. Only Lance looked pissed.

“Does this mean you’re leaving then?” Lance stood. “Just like that. Again.”

Keith looked up with a frown. “Its for the good of the universe, Lance. We need to finish this mission.”

“What about us?” Even his haze of anger, he paused, rephrasing. “What about the team? We just got you back, after so long. I don’t know about the rest of you guys,” he looked around at his teammates, “but I missed you Keith. Since we all came to space, we became a family. And you’re walking out on your family for a second time. What about you? You’ve barely gotten to rest in the time you’ve been with the Blades. How about spending time with your mum? You know the one you last saw when you were a baby, and who you’ve just found? You need to think about yourself as well.”

“Lance, this is bigger than you, or me, or even the team. If any of the hostile Galra factions get their hands on the new quintessence, then we wouldn’t stand a chance with that kind of power in the enemy’s hands.” He was unsettling with how calm he was behaving. “You can’t convince me to stay, we have to do this as soon as possible.” Keith walked over to Lance and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was reminiscent of how he’d comforted Keith after Shiro’s disappearance. “If all goes according to plan, we will be coming back.” Lance was just as upset as he was mad, and he found himself wanting to nuzzle into Keith’s hand, pull him into a hug, show him how much he doesn’t want him to leave again. The void Keith had left had only just been filled; he wasn’t ready to part with Keith so soon.

Hunk stood up, tears in his eyes, pulling the pair of them into a hug. Everyone else followed suit, a group hug forming in the living room, with a vastly different atmosphere from when Keith last left. Last time, he’d needed the emotional support of his found-family to be able to go out and find more about himself and make a difference in this war with the Blades. Now though, everyone was sad to see him go. 

Deep down though, Lance, as well as the rest of the team, knew that it was for the greater good. 

After all, he said he was coming back.

 

•••

 

They loaded Keith and Krolia into an Altean pod almost immediately, complete with food and supplies in case they were gone for longer than they expect, with quiet goodbyes and hugs. Lance was the only distant member of the team all throughout it. Keith noticed. They hadn’t spoken since the living room, and he knew his boyfriend was mad, to say the least. After everything they talked about, Keith was well aware of how lonely Lance had been during his absence. As much as he desperately wanted to stay with Lance (the thought even occurred to him that he could bring Lance along with them), he had to stay behind. He was the right hand of Voltron after all, he was needed with the team.

Lance seemed to think that Keith was needed too, but he couldn’t stay knowing that there was something seriously wrong in the Galra Empire, even with Lotor being supposedly good now. If anyone but the Coalition got a hold of the powerful quintessence, then it could mean serious consequences. 

“Be safe, buddy.” Hunk said, patting him on the back after loading the last of the food into the pod. “We’re really gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you guys too, you know that right?”

“Yeah, we all do.” The pair of them looked over at Lance. “Someone might need more convincing you know.” 

Keith nodded quietly.

Hunk made to leave, but stopped and whispered to Keith. “He’s feeling a little vulnerable right now. He’d been figuring out some stuff just before you came back and I think he’s just feeling particularly delicate right now.” Keith knew what he was talking about, but tried his best to seem like he didn’t. “Just… play nice, the two of you.” And with that, the yellow paladin left the hangar.

Leaving Keith alone with Lance.

Neither of them moved at first, standing quite far apart, the distance physical and feeling like it’s nestled itself between the two of them as a couple too. Keith really didn’t want to leave on this note, so he spoke up.

“Lance, I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Keith approached, reaching out. “I know you won’t forgive me, anytime soon anyway. But can I at least have a hug before I go?” He put his hand on Lance’s arm. “I’m gonna miss you. So much.”

At that, Lance pulled Keith into another hug. He squeezed tightly, breath ragged on his neck. Keith held on just as tightly, trying his best to memorise Lance’s scent, the pattern of his hair, the softness of his skin. If he was going to be gone a long time, he wanted to be able to recall how his boyfriend felt in his arms, even if they only got to spend time together for about 12 hours. It was short, their time together, and it was everything and more Keith had wanted to share with this boy he’d felt so strongly for for so long. It was bittersweet.

Lance pulled back, pressing a gentle kiss on Keith’s cheek. “Damn right, you’re gonna miss me.” His voice was thick with the threat of tears, “we talked about how lucky I was to not have been pining as long as you, but I think it’s a bit mean to get revenge by making me miss you while you’re far out in space.”

Keith laughed sadly, “I wish I could stay. Or bring you with. But I know that’s impossible.”

He looked down, “you could talk to me everyday, still.”

Cocking an eyebrow, Keith asked, “how would I do that?”

Lance stepped back, and dug through his jacket pocket. He pulled out his phone. “Pidge rigged it so you can still talk to us as a team, even over lightyears.” He shrugged. “You can message me privately, I’ll have my tablet on me at all times, so if you ever missed me too much…”

Keith took the phone, and pulled Lance in for another hug. He felt a lump forming in his own throat. Lance’s plan wasn’t ideal, but it was better than radio silence for god knows how long. “Thank you.”

They held each other tightly once again, treasuring the contact that will be the last for a long time.

“Come back safe, Samurai.”

“Will do, Sharpshooter.” Lance stroked the hair at Keith’s neck, a tear falling down Keith’s cheek as he did so. “Will do.”

**Author's Note:**

> the idea is that the end of this is kind of supposed to flow into season six
> 
> again if you want a continuation of this pls let me know!!
> 
> tbh i didnt mean to, i meant to finish here, but season six gave keith some QUALITY character growth and for his and lance's relationship to progress from there on would probably be the healthiest way they can grow as both individuals and a couple.


End file.
